Williams as a youth began wandering across the United States busking and playing stores, bars, alleys and work camps. In the early 1920s he worked in the Rabbit Foot Minstrels revue and recorded with the Birmingham Jug Band in 1930 for the Okeh label.
In 1934, he was in St. Louis, where he met record producer Lester Melrose who signed him to Bluebird Records in 1935. He stayed with Bluebird for ten years, recording such blues hits as "Baby, Please Don't Go" as Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers (1935) and "Crawlin' King Snake" (1941), both songs later covered by many other performers. He also recorded with other blues singers, including Sonny Boy Williamson I, Robert Nighthawk and Peetie Wheatstraw.
Williams remained a noted blues artist in the 1950s and 1960s, with his guitar style and vocals becoming popular with folk-blues fans. He recorded for the Trumpet, Delmark, Prestige and Vocalion labels, among others. He became a regular on the concert and coffeehouse circuits, touring Europe and Japan in the late 1960s and early 1970s and performing at major U.S. music festivals.
He died December 17, 1982 in Macon, Mississippi. Williams was buried in a private cemetery outside Crawford near the Lowndes County line. His headstone was primarily paid for by friends and partially funded by a collection taken up among musicians at Clifford Antone's nightclub in Austin, Texas, organized by California music writer Dan Forte, and erected through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund on October 9, 1994. Harmonica virtuoso and one time touring companion of Williams, Charlie Musselwhite, delivered the eulogy at the unveiling. Williams' headstone epitaph, composed by Forte, proclaims him "King of the 9 String Guitar."
Remaining funds raised for Williams' memorial were donated by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund to the Delta Blues Museum in order to purchase the last nine-string guitar from Williams' sister Mary May. The guitar purchased by the Museum is actually a 12-string guitar that Williams used in his later days. The last nine-string (a 1950s Kay cutaway converted to Williams' nine-string specifications) is missing at this time. Williams' previous nine-string (converted from a 1944 Gibson L-7) is in the possession of Williams' road agent and fellow traveler, Blewett Thomas.
One of Williams' nine-string guitars can be found under the counter of the Jazz Record Mart in Chicago, which is owned by Bob Koester, the founder of Delmark Records. Williams can be seen playing the nine-string guitar in American Folk-Blues Festival: The British Tours, 1963-1966, a 2007 DVD release.
Blues historian Barry Lee Pearson (Sounds Good to Me: The Bluesman's Story, Virginia Piedmont Blues) attempted to document the gritty intensity of the Williams persona in this description:
"When I saw him playing at Mike Bloomfield's "blues night" at the Fickle Pickle, Williams was playing an electric nine-string guitar through a small ramshackle amp with a pie plate nailed to it and a beer can dangling against that. When he played, everything rattled but Big Joe himself. The total effect of this incredible apparatus produced the most buzzing, sizzling, African-sounding music I have ever heard".
Marc Miller described a 1965 performance in Greenwich Village:
"Sandwiched in between the two sets, perhaps as an afterthought, was the bluesman Big Joe Williams (not to be confused with the jazz and rhythm and blues singer Joe Williams who sang with Count Basie). He looked terrible. He had a big bulbous aneuristic protrusion bulging out of his forehead. He was equipped with a beat up old acoustic guitar which I think had nine strings and sundry homemade attachments and a wire hanger contraption around his neck fashioned to hold a kazoo while keeping his hands free to play the guitar. Needless to say, he was a big letdown after the folk rockers. My date and I exchanged pained looks in empathy for what was being done this Delta blues man who was ruefully out of place. After three or four songs the unseen announcer came on the p. a. system and said, "Lets have a big hand for Big Joe Williams, ladies and gentlemen; thank you, Big Joe". But Big Joe wasn't finished. He hadn't given up on the audience, and he ignored the announcer. He continued his set and after each song the announcer came over the p. a. and tried to politely but firmly get Big Joe off the stage. Big Joe was having none of it, and he continued his set with his nine-string acoustic and his kazoo. Long about the sixth or seventh song he got into his groove and started to wail with raggedy slide guitar riffs, powerful voice, as well as intense percussion on the guitar and its various accoutrements. By the end of the set he had that audience of jaded '60s rockers on their feet cheering and applauding vociferously. Our initial pity for him was replaced by wondrous respect. He knew he had it in him to move that audience, and he knew that thousands of watts and hundreds of decibels do not change one iota the basic power of a song".
Williams' guitar playing was in the Delta blues style, and yet was unique. He played driving rhythm and virtuosic lead lines simultaneously and sang over it all. He played with picks both on his thumb and index finger, plus his guitar was heavily modified. Williams added a rudimentary electric pick-up, whose wires coiled all over the top of his guitar. He also added three extra strings, creating unison pairs for the first, second and fourth strings. His guitar was usually tuned to Open G, like such: (D2 G2 D3D3 G3 B3B3 D4D4), with a capo placed on the second fret to set the tuning to the key of A. During the 1920s and 1930s, Williams had gradually added these extra strings in order to keep other guitar players from being able to play his guitar. In his later years, he would also occasionally use a 12-string guitar with all strings tuned in unison to Open G. Williams sometimes tuned a six-string guitar to an interesting modification of Open G. In this modified tuning, the bass D string (D2) was replaced with a .08 gauge string and tuned to G4. The resulting tuning was (G4 G2 D3 G3 B3 D4), with the G4 string being used as a melody string. This tuning was used exclusively for slide playing.
Little Leg Woman
Big Joe Williams Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You got somethin', baby, worryin' me
Well, mama don't allow no layin' out all night long
Well, well, I'm in the mind of, Lord, my woman done done me wrong
Well, big-leg woman, better keep your dresses down
You got me standin' 'round my face full of frowns
Well, mama don't allow no layin' out all night long
Little-leg woman do just like a squirrel
Get up in the mornin', 'cause that in in the world
Well, my mama don't allow no layin' out all night long
Well, well, I'm in the mind of, hoo-hoo, Lord, my woman done done me wrong
Drop your window, woman, and down your blinds
Can't hear nothin' but your doggone bedspring cryin'
Well, mama don't allow no layin' out all night long
Well, well, you know I'm a mind of, hoo well, my woman done done me wrong
One of these mornings you'll lay there soon
Some old joker, boys, can have my room
Yeah, mama don't allow no aw-layin' out all night long
Well, well, the woman I'm lovin', hoo-hoo, Lord, she done done me wrong
Gwine tell you women how to keep your man at home
Lord, you can squeeze his lemon, woman, then roll him all night long
Yeah, mama don't allow no layin' out all night long
Well, well, I'm in the mind of, hoo, Lord, my woman done done me wrong
Sweetest peaches, woman, don't grow on no tree
Sweetest honey don't come from no bee
Well, mama don't allow no layin' out all night long
I'm in the mind of some woman done done me wrong
The lyrics to Big Joe Williams's song "Little Leg Woman" are full of sexual innuendos and a sense of betrayal. In the first verse, the singer implores his "mama" to stoop down and let her daddy see because he's worried about something. The suggestion is that the woman is doing something illicit or unfaithful. In the following verses, the singer warns the "big-leg woman" to keep her dresses down to avoid attracting other men, and advises the "little-leg woman" to act like a squirrel and get up early in the morning. The singer is clearly restless and unhappy because his woman has "done him wrong."
Throughout the song, the theme of "mama don't allow no layin' out all night long" serves as a refrain, reinforcing the idea that the singer's woman is being unfaithful or neglectful. The line "I'm in the mind of some woman done done me wrong" is repeated at the end, underscoring the sense of betrayal and hurt.
Overall, the lyrics of "Little Leg Woman" paint a picture of a man who feels powerless in the face of his woman's infidelity. The sexual innuendos and suggestive language give the song a raw, earthy quality that was typical of the blues music of the time.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, stoop down, mama, let your, your daddy see
The singer is asking his lover to crouch down and show him something.
You got somethin', baby, worryin' me
The singer is suspicious of his lover and believes they're hiding something.
Well, mama don't allow no layin' out all night long
The singer's mother has rules against staying out all night.
Well, well, I'm in the mind of, Lord, my woman done done me wrong
The singer is upset that his lover has betrayed him.
Well, big-leg woman, better keep your dresses down
The singer is warning his lover not to expose herself.
You got me standin' 'round my face full of frowns
The singer is unhappy and displeased with his lover's behavior.
Little-leg woman do just like a squirrel
The singer is suggesting that his lover should be more active.
Get up in the mornin', 'cause that in in the world
The singer wants his lover to wake up early and make the most of the day.
Drop your window, woman, and down your blinds
The singer wants his lover to close her window and blinds to keep things private.
Can't hear nothin' but your doggone bedspring cryin'
The singer is annoyed by the sound of his lover's bed spring.
One of these mornings you'll lay there soon
The singer suggests that his lover will one day wake up alone and regret her actions.
Some old joker, boys, can have my room
The singer is hinting that he will leave his lover for someone else.
Gwine tell you women how to keep your man at home
The singer is going to give advice to women on how to keep their men faithful.
Lord, you can squeeze his lemon, woman, then roll him all night long
The singer is suggesting that women should satisfy their man both emotionally and physically.
Sweetest peaches, woman, don't grow on no tree
The singer suggests that beautiful and sweet women are not easy to come by.
Sweetest honey don't come from no bee
The singer suggests that the best things in life do not come easily.
I'm in the mind of some woman done done me wrong
The singer is upset and hurt that a woman has betrayed him.
Contributed by Allison O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Kathy Senn
He made some good sounds.. thanks for sharing them with us, TravelerIntoTheBlue..
I'm wondering who he's influenced through the years.. 🎶🤔🙂😎🎶
Michel Parmentier
sooooooooooooooooo underrated !